Origin stops door-to-door sales

Another major energy retailer has announced it will abandon the practice of door-to-door sales.

Origin says it will withdraw from residential door-to-door sales by the end of September.

It is the last of the three major retailers to make the move.

Energy Australia and AGL stopped the practice months ago.

In March this year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission began Federal Court action against Energy Australia and four sales and marketing companies over door-to-door sales.

The ACCC is also waiting for a judgment in its separate case against AGL, which it began in March 2012.

Last year, the ACCC also started proceedings against company called Neighbourhood Energy and its former marketing company, Australian Green Credits.

The Federal Court ordered the pair to pay penalties of $1 million for illegal door-to-door selling practices.

In a statement on its website, Origin says the timing of the withdrawal reflects commercial arrangements in place with third-party providers

"In recent years Origin has been on a journey to improve customer engagement, and has made a considerable investment in new products, billing and customer relationship management systems," Origin's chief executive officer energy markets Frank Calabria said.

The Consumer Action Law Centre says today's announcement is a win for consumers.

"I'm extremely pleased to hear that Origin are also giving up door-to-door selling," she said.

"We wrote to all energy retailers last year asking for that, so we're pleased that the big three have agreed to do so."

But Ms Wilson would like to see more companies follow suit.

"It's not just Origin and the big energy retailers who are problematic, there are smaller ones as well. And we do get ongoing complaints from consumers on the 'Do Not Knock' website."

"We also get complaints about newspapers, pay television, sometimes even people who are selling services door to door, such as home repairs or even car tyres. So it's much broader than just energy retailers but as a sales medium we think it's a really detrimental one for consumers."

Ms Wilson says Australians who want to opt out of all door to door energy sales can fill out the centre's "No Contact" form.

She says the campaign will continue until businesses stop using the sales strategy.

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